Jared Hove
Teach For America Greater Delta 2005
Specialist, Program Strategy and Learning, Teach For All
“We need more young people with a connection to where they’re from and, at the same time, an awareness of our broader world,” said Jared Hove. “It’s hard to conceive of taking on the complex challenges of our world if students don’t have that at a young age.”
Hove’s life is a testimonial to his words. His Midwestern parents traveled the world as international teachers, and Hove grew up everywhere – the Midwest, Malaysia, Norway, and the United Arab Emirates. Immersed in local cultures, he absorbed lessons from a big, broad world.
“I was very lucky. My childhood afforded me access to amazing teachers and educational opportunities,” he said. “I had a unique exposure to the world.”
Hove returned to the United States for study at Carleton College. He connected there with a Teach For America (TFA) teacher and felt drawn to the organization’s vision. In 2005, Hove took a two-year assignment by TFA Greater Delta to teach at Quitman County Middle School in Mississippi.
“I had always sworn that education would not be my path in life,” he recalled. “And then I became an educator.”
He met a TFA colleague, Anna Mims, in Mississippi. They found that they had more than rural classrooms in common, and they married.
Following the trail blazed by Hove’s parents, the couple took international teaching positions. In Myanmar, they weathered three years of turbulence – political unrest and a cyclone that killed 100,000 people. Again, the big, broad world gave lessons.
Hove now looked for a way to bring together the strands of his life into a purposeful long-term career. After earning a graduate degree in education at Harvard University, he discovered Teach For All, an organization focused on changing the status quo for children by improving leadership in education.
“We believe that meaningful, sustainable change requires leaders who are rooted in their local culture, challenges, and opportunities … and who believe in the potential of children and their communities,” said Hove. “Teach For All develops collective leadership to improve education and expand opportunity for children.”
Hove’s experiences and background positioned him well to support Teach For All. He brings wisdom to the work of partnering with communities, recruiting and cultivating promising leaders, and finding innovative solutions to help children thrive everywhere in its global network of 61 independent, locally led and governed partner organizations.
Teach For All’s work took Hove back to the Middle East for a few years, then he and Mims felt the call of home. (She’s from South Carolina.) He finds Charleston a great place to live with his family.
As an alumnus of TFA, Hove fundamentally grasps the value that Teach For America South Carolina (TFASC) brings to classrooms and communities. He works with colleagues at TFASC who have led learning trips to Haiti and elsewhere. Hove is also a coach and engages with the Charleston Area Justice Ministry.
“It was true when I was in Mississippi, and it’s true now,” he said. “Teaching is vital to community life in our country, and we simply cannot have enough great people to do that demanding and unappreciated work.”
Hove feels that TFASC has great value as an innovative teaching path.
“We’re at a point where we see traditional ways of teaching and learning are not meeting the demands of the future,” he said. “It means we would do well to support communities and committed educators in South Carolina, and I think TFASC can be an important part of that.”
His advice to TFASC teachers? Take a chance.
“If you’re going to invest your life in something, you don’t have to have it figured out in advance,” said Hove. “If something seems meaningful, it will sustain you through the challenges. Don’t wait for the perfect thing. Just start. You’re going to learn by walking the path.”
